A 4-year-old boy died after he took a bullet in the head during a wild shootout on a Bronx basketball court Sunday night, cops and witnesses said.
The slain child was identified as Lloyd Morgan. An observer who said she was a friend of Morgan's family said mothers began searching the courts for their children when the guns finally silenced.
“When my friend didn’t see her kid, she panicked,” said the woman. “Then she saw him on the floor, shot.”
A team of medics brought the little boy, to Lincoln Hospital, where he died. A 27-year-old man was taken to the same hospital with a bullet in his stomach.
“It was a nice day,” said one witness, who declined to give her name. “People are all out and before you know it — it was Pop! Pop! Pop!”
People scurried around the court to get away from the spray of bullets.
“People started running everywhere,” the witness said. “They were screaming, a frightened scream. People were running, crossing the streets — not caring if cars were driving. They were scared.”
Another witness said the shooter, a man known as Spidey, started shooting at someone playing basketball. The basketball player shot back, hitting the child, identified early Monday morning as Lloyd Morgan.
A 31-year-old man went to St. Barnabas Hospital with a gunshot wound to his arm. Both men were expected to survive.
The crowd of people had been watching the “First Annual Ghetto Angels Basketball Tournament” at the court in the Forrest Houses.
The game was part of an annual memorial for a 15-year-old girl that was stabbed to death one year ago, housing residents said.
Witnesses said they saw at least two gunmen open fire on the court before they ran away. No arrests were immediately made.
“The basketball game started on the wrong foot,” said State Assemblyman Eric Stevenson (D-Bronx). “It’s a bad name of a team for starters.”
Stevenson said a rally would be held at 5 p.m. Monday to call for an end to the violence.
“The bullets struck a child and cost him his life,” he said.
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